Poetry Friday, Week 44: Taking the November Challenge by the Inklings with a Tie In to SJT11/8/2024
 Linda at A Word Edgewise hosted Spiritual Journey Thursday last week and her prompt was "world". She also shared her prompt for the The Inklings: As we enter Native American Heritage Month I ask that you respond to Joy Harjo's Fall Song in any way that makes your heart happy. I needed this prompt. Have you read Harjo's poem? It's so good. It has been fuel for three poems.  Thank you, Linda for this incredible poem. There are so many juicy lines in this. I was Between the election and the passing of a friend, it's been a week. I turn to writing and art in times such as these. Today, I'm sharing two with the focus on Linda's prompt for SJT. Thank you to Cathy at Merely Day by Day and her powerful poem, "In the Mourning". The Greyness of Winter The earth is slightly damp with rain From “Fall Song” by Joy Harjo I voted. Then bided my time for the results to come in by digging in the earth. Planting bulbs to contrast the greyness of winter. Is it too early for hope? I slightly pat down the mulch with a damp hand. The one with cramps from the letter writing. My eyes spill rain. ©jone rush macculloch, draft, 2024 When the World is Unhinged
Is there another word for ‘‘divine’’? From “Fall Song” by Joy Harjo Our world is unhinged at this moment. There is anger, fear, and worry for one another. It feels like actions and words of the our better angels cannot compensate for the collective sadness of now. How do we contact the divine? ©jone rush macculloch, draft, 2024  Carol at Beyond LiteracyLink  I love this time of year. I love creating Halloween scenes.
This piece includes a photo-copy of a home in my 1958-1963 neighborhood. I was convinced the old woman who lived there with her St. Bernard was a witch. It is the house that inspired "The Dare", a poem that was published in The Best of Today's Little Ditty:2017-2018, edited by from Michelle H. Barnes, 2019. When I was finished, this small poem surfaced: a dog howls dares you to walk by eerie night © jone rush macculloch 
Matt at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme has hosting duties this week. Thank you, Matt.
I've been thinking about a comment I made with a couple poetry friends on a Zoom call last week. The importance of teachers sharing poems they have written as models for students. When I guest teach, I have a limited time to engage students so I was to make sure they have enough scaffolding to be successful. Last week( Poetry Friday, Week 40), I shared the student work from two classes I taught in recently using Georgia Heard's book, Boom! Bellow! Bleat! This week, I'm sharing what I shared with the students. 
I like to share my journal with students. With the fifth graders, since I wanted them to have the option of hybrid animals, I came up with 'pumpkin octopus". I Am a Curious Crow I am a curious crow Caw-caw, caw-caw, caw-caw I love to fly into your dreams Caw-caw, caw-caw, caw-caw I feel like my feathers are glittery satin Caw-caw, caw-caw, caw-caw I wish I could fly to the full moon Caw-caw, caw-caw, caw-caw © jone rush macculloch, 2024 I Am a Playful Pumpkinoctopus I am a playful pumpkinoctopus Squash-pilops, squash-pilops, squash-pilops I love to slide along in muddy fields and steal corn Squash-pilops, squash-pilops, squash-pilops I feel like I need to escape or be made into pie Squash-pilops, squash-pilops, squash-pilops I wish I could hide from the pie makers Squash-pilops, squash-pilops, squash-pilops © jone rush macculloch, 2024 During morning attendance, I asked the students to tell me a favorite animal. After reading the book, we make a list of animal sounds real or not. 
For the illustrations, I like to use a blank square. I think it helps students to not be overwhelmed at the sight of a blank drawing page. It's also helpful, when I ask them to color in the whole square.
I wanted to try something a bit different with the animals. I found an art lesson online about creating patterns in the animals. Because I like to give options, I told the students they could either put patterns on the animals or pattern the background. So I made two examples in my art journal.(I forgot to finish going over in black ink). I brought find tipped black pens for students to use. For the "pumkinoctopus", I decided to just make the background patterned. 
Last week, I had the opportunity to hear Paulann Petersen read at the local library. The treasure is that it's on YouTube and I want to share it with you. She is such a treasure.
Thanks to Jama at Jama's Alphabet Soup for hosting our poetry posts.
First of all, I want to say that I am holding in my heart and prayers all those who live on the east coast and have been affected by Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton. Especially my poet friends. It was good to see Jan’s post. Last week, I subbed in two classrooms and was excited to once again share Georgia Heard's book, Boom! Bellow! Bleat! as a mentor text. With fourth grade, we did animals but in fifth grade, I gave the option to create a "spooky animal" like a "Pumpkinoctopus". It's evident that students had fun with these. Mrs. Martin's Fourth GradersMrs. Standish's Fifth GradeThanks to Leigh Anne Eck for hosting Spiritual Journey Thursday and Tabatha Yeatts for stepping in to host Poetry Friday. The theme of SJT is change/transformation. Autumn is such a great time for this theme, Days are getting shorter, leaves are changing, and the mornings have a crispness to them. The sky even seems bluer. I am returning to SJT and Poetry Friday after being gone for about six weeks. As it often happens, while taking a rest, a break is good, returning always feels like a change, a groggy, sloggy return. Can I still write? Are there poems that eke out onto the page? What I planned to do while in Japan: sit, sketch, and write, didn't really happen. I was acclimating to heat and humidity, figuring out the trains and subways, and monitoring the impending typhoon. What calls to me is this quote :The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. — Lao Tse This is where I am. Taking that first step. Reaching out to my writing pals. Last Saturday, I was in an hour long writing session. I found Georgia Heard's Write Bites class to engage myself. Re-dedicating myself to reading the Two Sylvias Muse weekly newsletter. Last week, I also took another step in the area of returning to the practice of yoga. In Poetry Friday news, I was pleased to return home I early September and find my Haiku Society of America's (HSA)members' anthology. I have a haiku in this journal. Last May, I witnessed the aurora borealis and was so taken by the experience, I wrote this:
sky ribbons flutter I inhale aurora borealis If you were gifted the experience you know, Molly at Nix the Comfort Zone is hosting the round up this week. She's thinking about "JOY" which was my OLW a few years back. This past weekend, I experienced joy on a six plus mile hike with my daughter. She was an amazing cheerleader and patient with me as I have not hiked that amount in many years. We hiked the Fort to Sea trail which begins at Fort Clatsop and ends at the Pacific (full disclosure, we stopped when we got to the car). As I hiked, I thought of this year's work for me, "expand". The hike was a way to expand and challenge me. We saw quite an array of fauna and flora. Perhaps one of the the best joy moments for me was watching a rodent about squirrel size (not exactly sure of the species) carry away the top of mushroom in a scamper. Both my daughter and I witnessed this moment and while not captured on a phone, it has stayed with me.  
Carol is hosting the topic “pause” for August’s Spiritual Journey Thursday. It’s a fabulous topic for August. When I was teaching, August 1 signaled it was time to pause before the beginning of the new school year. In Celtic tradition, August 1 is Lunstal (Scottish Gaelic, pronounced “loo-nas-til”), the midpoint between Summer Solstice and Autumnal Equinox. It’s a time to pause as the berries are ripening and harvesting is beginning. One of my favorite Bible verses is “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10) We are reminded to pause. I also found this quote: Silence is the pause in me when I am near to God.” Arvo Part. I feel this so much when I walk in the woods or on the beach. There are times in the day in which I practice a pause. Every morning, I take the dog outside and I am so glad, I pause to find the moon and watch the first light of day. Each afternoon I nap. I don’t really fall into a deep sleep, it feels more meditative. What would our world be like if more people take time to pause? Laura at Poems for Teachers has the weekly poetry round-up. She’s sharing her new book and a terrific poetry prompt.  I loved that I captured the moon this morning. What a beautiful pause.
© graphic by Amber Fleek Marcie at Marcie Flinchum Atkins is hosting Poetry Friday this week. She's excited to announce that Wait, Rest, Pause: Dormancy in Nature is coming out in paperback. I am so excited for her. The Inklings issued a challenge for a "Wish You Here" postcard poem and the Poetry Sisters issued a haiku challenge of giving something away. My vacation poem came from walking to my car today. I was struck that just yesterday a friend sent me photos of their thistle garden and today I say this volunteer thistle. And the haiku photo is from several years ago. An abandoned couch by the river.   Places and Portals: A Collection of Mixed Media Art and PhotographyFlowers, Moon and Crows: Showing at Cup of Tea©Graphic by Amber Fleek Welcome to Poetry Friday. Margaret at Reflections on the Teche is hosting us all this week. I've been on a bit of a break. We took a trip to see family in California. Then returned and last Friday a do nothing day. I also discovered before leaving on the trip that eighteen months ago I signed up to show some art in local tea shop. So I needed to get those pieces ready. One of the parts of the trip was to visit Bodie, California. It's a ghost town that is care-taken by the California State Parks. It was gifted to the state in 1962. The evening ghost town tour was the ultimate history lesson to learn about the lives of the people from starting in 1859 when William (a.k.a. Waterman) S. Bodey found gold. I have friends that regularly visit to photo the place. I felt privileged to spend an evening walking and learning about this place.  Places and Portals: Photography, Poems, & Mixed Media Art Flowers, Moon and Crows: Showing at Cup of TeaThis is my other place where I am showing my work through September.
© Graphic by amber Fleek Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference is hosting the first Poetry Friday of summer, Woohoo! I always hope for my friends in education that the summer will be like a snail as it moves along. Tonight, tomorrow at lunch and Saturday, I will be with friends and acquaintances from Lewis and Clark College. We all graduated 50 years ago. How is that possible? Parts of me still feels that college age. I was tasked to share a poem for the dinner tonight.  Intro to the Poem Friendship is a deep and more sacred connection. —John O Donohue, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom. When I was asked last fall to share a poem for this dinner, I knew what I would write. But how does one convey the deep friendship that started 54 years ago. These are among my most important threads of my life tapestry. How do you condense and express that while they are not present daily, we come together as if no time has passed? A touchstone book is the Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom by John O Donohue. I have always spoken of how my dearest friends are ones that I might not see or hear from daily but when we gather, no time has passed. When I read O’Donohue’s book, I finally had a term for it: Anam, the Gaelic word for friendship; cara: the word for soul…soul friend A friend recently said to me that we are at the stage of our life where “loss” wants to take center stage. Some of the loss is out of our hands. Our attitude plays an important part. However you choose to live hopefully it’s by “Carpe Diem”, or as other friends say “like there’s no tomorrow or “today is all we got”. Places and Portals: Photography, Poems, & Mixed Media Art |
AuthorAll photos and poems in these blog posts are copyrighted to Jone Rush MacCulloch 2006- Present. Please do not copy, reprint or reproduce without written permission from me. 
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